An Introduction to Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a two-way relation between influential social media personalities and brands. It has become one of the most sought-after methods of marketing for most companies. Brands use influencers and their skills of persuasion towards their targeted and highly engaged audience. These are the followers of these influencers.
These influencers use their already established social media platform to promote products and services. They use different marketing strategies to promote and endorse such products and services. We see these types of influencers and influencer marketing all over our social media feed.
Influencer marketing offers many benefits to brands so it is a marketing strategy that brands often opt for. Confluencr, One of the largest influencer marketing agencies, quotes that 86% of women use social media for purchasing advice.
Strategies to Boost Sales Through Influencer Marketing
Now that we have established what influencer marketing is and the fact that it offers many benefits, let us look at ways to boost sales through this type of marketing. Let us explore the various strategies that a brand must use while employing influencer marketing for enhanced sales of products and services.
Select the Right Influencer
For any strategy to work with influencer marketing, the first thing that brands must do is select the right influencer. This is the most important step and strategy for influencer marketing. It is imperative to select an influencer who belongs to the same industry as your product and has the same target audience as your brand’s audience. According to research, 82% of buyers have said that they follow the recommendation of influencers. It is also important to utilize a micro-influencer. Do not just go for celebrities and influencers with big following numbers because a lot of times these numbers can be fake. If the influencer’s following is huge but engagement is very little then it would not benefit you in any way.
Create Awareness and Engagement
High sales should be a long-term goal of any brand or company. However, to achieve this long-term goal, a brand has to first achieve certain other milestones. Creating an awareness or familiarity with the brand is one step that will lead to better sales.
Influencers are very efficient when it comes to introducing or familiarising a brand with their audience. This brings in a huge pool of potential buyers and follows a good audience engagement. This can also lead to higher-complement one-time traffic to your website.
Build Brand Value and a Community
Sales are also often driven by the brand’s value. Influencer marketing is an assured way to build value for your brand. Associating with a positive influencer will not just bring awareness but also a positive reputation towards your brand. This creates trust among the target audience. Many brands also collaborate with influencers and take part in charitable causes. This creates a sense of community among your buyers. A loyal and trusted pool of customers is built through brand value and a sense of community.
Affiliate Programs and Discount Codes to Influencers
A lot of times small brands and startups find it difficult to compensate big influencers. An alternative for this is affiliate partnership and discount codes that influencers can use. This is also a good method of compensation when leveraging micro-influencers.
This can create a sense of competition and drive motivation for the influencer. This happens because the influencers are compensated according to their performance and power of persuasion. It motivates influencers to drive their audience to buy your products and services, leading to higher sales for your brand.
Meaningful Collaboration
A lot of times brands just assume influencers are willing to promote anything if compensated properly. While it m
ay be true sometimes, it is not always true. It is also better to actually understand the influencer and their channel and then collaborate with them.
The collaboration should be a meaningful and professional relationship where both parties understand and complement each other’s ideas, values and goals. Don’t just partner up with an influencer because they are popular or for just one post. It is always better to collaborate with the same influencer for a longer time if they are bringing in positive results. A meaningful collaboration bears much better fruit than an aimless one-time sponsored post.
Final Words
Finally, to conclude, it is important to take suggestions and adopt strategies that are surely going to work. However, your brand is unique to yourself and it is unlike any other. Adopt techniques and strategies and analyze them enough to know what works for you best and what does not work for you. It is better to adapt techniques suitable for you and not just the ones for your peers and competitors. Be genuine, responsive, and accessible with your campaigns and you will surely acquire the right consumers who will drive higher sales.
Allina Ghosh is an aspiring journalist who is currently working as a content writer at Confluencr.com. She has been writing for influencer marketing and has imperatively grown & learned about all the important advantages of marketing. When not working, she can be found in her favorite coffee shop, reading books, cooking, and traveling the world.